check_age: Validity Checks for Age Labels

In poputils: Demographic Analysis and Data Manipulation

Validity Checks for Age Labels

Description

Check that age labels can be parsed and, optionally, whether the labels are complete, unique, start at zero, and end with an open age group.

Usage

check_age(
  x,
  complete = FALSE,
  unique = FALSE,
  zero = FALSE,
  open = FALSE,
  closed = FALSE
)

Arguments

x	A vector of age labels.
complete	If TRUE, test whether x has gaps.
unique	If TRUE, test whether x has duplicates.
zero	If TRUE, test whether youngest age group in x starts at 0.
open	If TRUE, test whether oldest age group in x is open.
closed	If TRUE, test whether oldest age group in x is closed.

Details

By default, check_age() only tests whether a set of labels can be parsed as single-year, five-year, or life table age groups. (See age_group_type() for more on the three types of age group.) However, it can also apply the following tests:

• complete. Whether x includes all intermediate age groups, with no gaps. For instance, the labels c("10-14", "15-19", "5-9") are complete, while the labelsc("15-19", "5-9") are not (because they are missing "10-14".)

• unique. Whether x has duplicated labels.

• zero. Whether the youngest age group in x starts at age 0, ie whether it includes "0" or "0-4".

• open. Whether the oldest age group in x is "open", with no upper limit, eg "100+" or "65+".

• closed. Whether the oldest age group in x is "closed", with an upper limit, eg "100-104+" or "65".

Value

TRUE, invisibly, or raises an error if a test fails.

See Also

• reformat_age() to convert age labels to the format used by poputils.

Examples

try(
  check_age(c("10-14", "0-4", "15+"),
            complete = TRUE)  
)

try(
  check_age(c("10-14", "5-9", "0-4", "5-9", "15+"),
            unique = TRUE)
)

try(
  check_age(c("10-14", "5-9", "15+"),
            zero = TRUE)
)

try(
  check_age(c("10-14", "0-4", "5-9"),
            open = TRUE)
)

try(
  check_age(c("10+", "0-4", "5-9"),
            closed = TRUE)
)

poputils documentation built on Aug. 8, 2025, 6:21 p.m.